Foulbrood still a ‘gigantic issue’

Wairarapa beekeepers are pulling their weight in managing a highly infectious bacterial brood disease, but there is no room for complacency, a pest management veteran says.

Just over 270 cases of american foulbrood (AFB) were reported in the Manawatū-Whanganui region, which includes Wairarapa, to the body responsible for eliminating the disease in New Zealand’s managed beehives in the 12 months to July 2023.

“This is just 0.41% of all cases notified in that period,” Marco Gonzalez, national operations manager for American Foulbrood National Pest Management Plan, said.

“Wairarapa is doing a good job,” with low prevalence of the disease, and cases mostly contained within the region’s commercial beekeeping operations.

The current picture was welcome shift from 2019 when Wairarapa had one of the largest AFB outbreaks in the country when a single commercial beekeeper reported 333 cases.

But, Gonzalez said, “the main risk with AFB elimination is that the beekeepers just stop managing AFB”.

Vigilant adherence to management practices such as registering hive locations, regular surveillance for signs of the disease, reporting cases, and destroying - typically through burning - affected hives, was key, he said.

Methods for managing AFB include registering hive locations, regular surveillance for signs of the disease, reporting cases, and destroying affected hives.
Iain McGregor / Stuff

Failure to implement disease management protocols could result in significant financial losses for commercial operations, Gonzalez said.

“It's a terrible cost to some people. I am dealing with a beekeeper currently that has already spent $15,000 on beehives that he needed to burn, and it was because of an unregistered beekeeper nearby.“

Gonzalez’s message for beekeepers that couldn’t meet their legal biosecurity obligations was simple.

“They need to leave the industry. They can't just stay there being a risk to the rest of the industry who are committed to staying in it for the long term.”

Wairarapa apiarist and honey exporter Stu Ferguson agreed.

“AFB is a beekeeper-spread disease,” he said, and a “gigantic issue” for the commercial honey industry in the region.

“It's hugely critical that we keep on top of it.”

Ferguson said there were a couple of challenges for beekeepers in managing the spread of AFB, including commercial pressures.

National hive numbers have crashed from an “unsustainable” one million about four years ago to around 530,000 today.
Iain McGregor / Stuff

“Some people aren't very well trained to [spot AFB],” he said.

“You'll get a lot of money people coming in. You'll get beekeepers that are not well trained. You'll get pressure to do more hives in a day than you can possibly do, so you don't inspect the frames for AFB.

“The result is a lot of poor beekeeping, and the potential for a lot of disease to go around.”

But with national hive numbers crashing from an “unsustainable” one million about four years ago to around 530,000 today, “the commercial pressure probably has eased quite a bit recently”.

Commercial operators who survived “the gold rush” and are “still in business are pretty good”.

However, untended hives left behind by failed honey producers who “just walked away” still represented a risk to effective pest management, Ferguson said.

Foraging bees from non-contaminated hives can inadvertently spread AFB spores from hives they visit and had the “capacity to spread AFB rapidly.”

Like Gonzalez, Ferguson had a simple message for the region’s beekeepers: “Do not walk away from your hives without dealing with AFB.

“Tell someone. If you can't do it, then get someone to deal with it, because it just affects all of us so badly.”